This invention relates to a plant harvester and to a method of harvesting plants.
Land and aquatic weeds are harvested using a variety of devices. Examples of such weed harvesters are found in U.S. Pat. Nos: 2,603,051 issued to K. F. Williams on July 15, 1952; 3,133,395 issued to E. W. Farmer on May 19, 1964; 3,395,465 issued to S. J. Andreasen et al on Aug. 8, 1968; 3,468,106 issued to R. R. Myers et al on Sept. 23, 1969; 3,774,686 issued to L. H. Michener on Nov. 27, 1973, 3,804,177 issued to W. D. Rinfroe on Apr. 16, 1974 and 3,814,190 issued to W. L. Wilson on June 4, 1974.
The above mentioned patents disclose a variety of methods of clearing land or harvesting aquatic weeds, including the dragging of inter-connected containers over terrain to be cleared; the scooping of floating or suspended vegetation, or material from the bottom of a waterway; the dragging of weighted bodies with blades, blades themselves or flexible chains with attached blades along the bottom of a lake or a river to cut weeds close to the bottom thereof; the use of opposed endless conveyor belts movable with respect to each other for grasping and pulling weeds; and the use of a rake or scarifier including a plurality of rigid shafts interconnected end-to-end, each shaft having staggered, elongated teeth for raking when the rake is rotated along the ground.
Obviously, the partial removal of weeds by cutting close to the ground is unsatisfactory, since the weeds will return much more quickly than if removed completely. The apparatus which is purported to pull weeds from the ground appears to be quite complicated and cumbersome. There definitely exists a need for a simple apparatus and method for harvesting plants, and in particular acquatic weeds.
The object of the present invention is to provide a relatively simple method and harvester for harvesting weeds. While the harvester described hereinafter may be intended for harvesting weeds found below water in waterways and on the banks of such water ways it will be appreciated that the harvester can be used to remove plants, particularly long thin plants on dry land.